This charming photograph, found in Germany, shows three brothers: Alfred, Emil, and Bernhardt Höhnig in 1872 in Bernburg, Germany—or at least, that’s what someone penciled on the back of the photo. Later, someone made a few corrections, suggesting that the names might have been mixed up initially. For example, Emil and Alfred were swapped at first, and Bernhardt was originally labeled as “Bertha.” However, they were confident about the date, stating that the photo was taken in 1872, with Alfred, the oldest brother, seated on the left; Emil, the middle brother, holding a cane of sweets on the right; and baby Bernhardt seated in the middle. They even provided possible birth years: Alfred in 1860, Emil in 1865, and Bernhardt in 1868.
With these clues, I hoped to uncover more about the brothers’ lives, but my search has so far been largely unfruitful.
A quick search on big genealogy platforms yielded no results, so I turned to Bernburg city directories available online for free. In the earliest directory from 1877, I found three people with the surname “Höhnig”:
- Höhnig, Christoph, laborer, Holzb. 19
- Höhnig, Friedrich, laborer, Tiefergr. 12
- Catharine, née Meyer, widow, Brahlenberg 13
By 1885, only one of these individuals remained in Bernburg:
- Höhnig, Chr. (presumably Christoph?), laborer, Ringgasse 11
By 1887, I found a coachman named Emil Höhnig listed at Saalweg 3, who could well be the Emil Höhnig in our photo. At that time, he would have been about 22 years old.
In 1897, an Emil Höhnig, laborer, was the sole “Höhnig” listed in the Bernburg directories.
In 1929, Emil was still the only Höhnig in the directory. If this was indeed the Emil from our photo, he would have been around 64 years old in 1928.
While city directories are a rich resource for genealogy, they unfortunately do not provide information about other household members, leaving me wondering: was he married? Did he have children?
The three names I found in the 1877 city directory—Christoph, Friedrich, and Catharine—could very well have been relatives of the brothers. Perhaps Christoph or Friedrich was their father, one might have been an uncle, and Catharine, née Meyer, their grandmother? However, I’ve found no online records to substantiate this theory.
So far, I haven’t been able to find any records tying Alfred or Bernhardt Höhnig to Bernburg. I’ve only searched the platforms available to me, but as I don’t have access to Archion—a subscription-based online collection of German church books, which includes those from Bernburg, my search ends here for now. Perhaps one day I can continue my search when I have access to Archion's collection as well.
There are so many lovely details to discover in this photo. Emil was holding a cane of sweets which was and still is typically gifted to children on their very first day of school. If you look closely, there was a cake placed on the little table in front of the brothers. Were they perhaps celebrating Emil’s first day of school? In 1872, the typical school starting age in Germany was six years. This was established by compulsory education laws, which had already been introduced in various German states and regions.
If you know the Höhnig family or are related, please reach out to me!
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